Lew Archer is a private investigator who mostly does divorce work. However, on the recommendation of Albert Graves, a former district attorney, Elaine Sampson contacts Archer to track down her wayward husband, Ralph. The oil tycoon set seems determined to drink himself to death following his son’s death in WW2. He might be off somewhere philandering, or he might not be. Either way, Elaine has no intention of divorcing him. She’d rather outlive him and cleanly claim a fortune. But the last time Ralph Sampson disappeared, he gave away a very valuable mountain, complete with a hunting lodge, to a self-proclaimed holy man. However, as Archer tracks Ralph through Los Angeles, the case looks more like a true kidnapping. Overlapping love triangles add to the tangles as Ralph’s 5 million dollar fortune brings out the worst in all who know him. Ross Macdonald went on to write 17 other Lew Archer novels which cemented Archer’s place as a classic hardboiled, noir detective.

The first book in Ross MacDonald's (Kenneth Miller's)extraordinary Lew Archer series of socal detective novels, "The Moving Target" tells the story of a missing war-profiteer millionaire and his corrupt, broken family. it is a great read that introduces a great character. ( )

At this point, I have only read the first eight books (in order) of this Lew Archer series. It feels to me as though he learned how to write an exceptional mystery novel from Raymond Chandler. No crime there.. Chandler, by the end was as good as they get! Macdonald seemed to be feeling his way a little with the first couple of books before really hitting his stride with "Find A Victim". They are all enjoyable, all well worth reading, but the next real standout, I felt, was "The Galton Case", the book I am reading now! ( )

Again, whenever I read any ‘classic’ detective fiction in the noir/hardboiled style, I go back to the well that is Chandler. To me he is the epitome of the genre and the master of the type. It may be that the bar is set too high, however, as all others seem to miss it. Macdonald didn’t miss it by much, but he did. His characters seemed flat to me, Archer included. And he didn’t do much to give me the flavor of Los Angeles in the post-war years. He gave me scenery, but not much more.

The mystery was typical of its type; rich man gets into trouble, rich wife comes to Archer for help. Suspects and red herrings abound. Archer does a good job sorting them out and fending off the dames. He wears a gun and drives hell bent for leather. As a private, his relationship with the police is shaky at best. I was surprised at the ex-wife though. You don’t find that often with the guys who put bullets in their breakfast cereal.

There were some lovely little nuggets that just screamed noir and made me stop and savor them though. Here’s one from page 47 –

“Lew’s a detective,” Russell said. “He unearths people’s guilty secrets and exposes them to the eyes of a scandalized world.”
“Now, how low can you get?” asked Timothy cheerfully.
I didn’t like the crack, but I’d come for information not exercise.

Isn’t that just lovely? The novel is properly peppered with such vignettes. Perfectly pitched. Perfectly noir.

Overall though, I’d read more just to see if Archer expands as a character. It is sometimes difficult to imbue one with depth and breadth in one, small novel. Better to create one over a course of novels, much the way Chandler did with Marlowe. But in the initial impression, I got much more from him and Hammett with Spade than I did with Macdonald and Archer. Possibly Macdonald was focusing on the plot and story more than characterization, but I think one can do both. ( )

This is my first book by this author featuring his detective Lew Archer; it was an impulse pick up at my last library visit. I realized midway through the book that I had seen a movie that this book is based on Harper which stars Paul Newman. Someone on LT has also informed me that there is another movie The Drowning Pool which is based on the book which also stars Paul Newman. (good choice)

Lew Archer is hired to find a Southern California millionaire, Ralph Sampson, who has been reported missing by his wife. After meeting Mr. Sampson’s daughter Miranda, and some of his associates, which include a holy man to whom Sampson has given his own mountain sanctuary and an actress who follows astrology. Included in the cast of characters are Mr. Sampson’s personal pilot and lawyer who are both in love with his daughter Miranda. It’s not too long before Archer begins to think that maybe Mr. Sampson has been kidnapped by someone he knows.

This was a good, quick moving, crime novel much in the same vain as Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler. It contained just the right amount of detail and not an overly obvious conclusion. I enjoyed it very much. I definitely plan to read more books by the author featuring both his Lew Archer series and his stand alones as well. ( )